Tuesday, April 27, 2010

France Preview - Wednesday 10 p.m.

Norway will pull off this win and the upset. And yes, I do think its an upset because watching France play I'm convinced they're the most skilled team in the tournament, even more so than Ireland. But Norway prevails because now the team has tasted defeat and it really, really sucks. Norway will come out hard and will play similar to what worked against El Salvador - lots of pressure in the midfield and hard challenges on every opposing player.

What Norway needs to be aware of, and I think is aware of - are the exceptionally talented France strikers who have been lighting it up all tournament. Fortunately, this is an area of strength because Norway's defense is good in one-on-one situations and shutting down pure shooters. Don't expect France to score many goals in this one.

What Norway really needs to ensure victory is to get the first goal. Every game Norway has managed this feat it has ended with a win. Norway is capable of coming from behind, but is much more comfortable when it has a cushion, no matter how small. Norway's strikers will need to play physical against the French back line because this is the area where they can gain a real advantage.

Beware of a slow-paced, tactically sound performance from both sides that almost certainly will not be as exciting as Laos/Germany or Poland/Canada. I'm giving Norway the win in a close one. 3-2.

29 comments:

If Nigeria scores early they could give a Ireland a real scare, but i don't think they can pull off this upset. Ireland are still the favorite,although France has been playing some good soccer, but i still don't think they've reached they're full potential. Ireland should use they're experience and much superior skill to take this game. I think they'll come out slow but show why they are the defending champs.

Ireland take it 4-2

Poland V.S. Canada

Have to give this game to Canada. They're the type of team that only plays well agaisnt other good teams or in important games. Poland is a definetly overhyped i feel. Decent team with some good young players but this isn't they're time.

Canada 3-0

Germany V.S. Laos

Laos will definetly take this game, no disrespect to Germany but they have picked up to many injuries, and don't seem like the type of team that loves to defend, which is what they will need to. Should be a good a game though with no real favorite on paper, just my personal opinion

Laos takes it 5-2.

France V.S. Norway

France should definetly win this game, but last year they should have definetly beat Saudi and choked. Norway is out matched in this game in almost all aspects except for heart. So France better show up to play or they will be going home in dissapointment again. I think France has learned from they're mistake of last year and should take this game with ease, as easy as a quarter final can be that is.

na na na na hey hey hey goodbyelol all that trash talking about the other teams and look what u get.. karma is a bitch hahahaha na na na na hey hey hey good bye........... na na na na hey hey hey good bye..... that prove my point that NORWAY SUCKS!!!!!! hey maybe u guys can sell hot dogs after the world cup party cause i wouldnt show my face at the party after u guys bashed every team in ur pool

Uh oh. It looks like a little girl took exception to some of the things I wrote. Sorry if your feelings got hurt Norway Hater, next time I'll make sure to tone it down so that the more sensitive players don't cry themselves to sleep at night.

Playmaker talked a little to much trash. Trashed ES midfield, claiming they would win the midfield battle; yet they had to play with 4 in the middle just to try to stop a potent attack of 3 ES midfielders.That is just one example of many.As for the hot dog selling party, you should recruit the Germans to be out there with you as no one wants to see them either!

Norway didn't beat ES because of the midfield battle.Norway beat ES because ES is full of little players that were getting tossed around by a more physical team.Also who was the right back who set up Norway's second goal I think he forgot that he played on ES not Norway

This Norway/Germany hater is really annoying. Its fine to voice your opinion and predictions but when your team does worse than both the teams you are beaking you should probably settle down and grow up. No one likes losing but you could try being a bit more respectable to the superior teams of 2010. I like some of the ES players but this guy is a dirt bag!

Hmmmm.... Norway's midfielders scored 3 goals out of 3 and El Salvador's midfield scored 0. If that isn't winning the midfield battle then I don't know what is. Nice passes and good ball skills aren't enough to win games

I play for ES. What's going on here are personal attacks from certain individuals to others. In this tourney, as in any others, you win by goals. No one can deny that; we play entertaining football, but we still have to score and we didn't do that. Two goals would have made the difference for us. The truth is that in any sport or competition, you not only have to be good and work hard, but be a little bit lucky. When the chances came, we didn't put them away and that made the difference. We aren't gonna talk shit about anybody else, anyone claiming to speak for ES is speaking as an individual, not for our team. Could we have done things differently? Of course. Any regrets? Never. We made the calls we thought were right at the time. Hindsight is 20/20, but at the time we made the calls we had to and we make no apologies. Did our guys have fun? If we didn't have fun on and off the field we wouldn't be ES. Our locker room and team atmosphere is quite special - ask anyone in ES. Congrats to Germany and Norway for moving on from our group. Congrats to all the teams that made it to the play-offs, the best team this year, will be the team that wins it. That's that. One thing is for sure, you can never take ES for granted and in this tourney anything is possible. See you next year. Let's leave all the smack out of it and let's enjoy the last few days!

They're not personal attacks so don't get all offended. Learn to accept that this blog is for comments about the tournament and don't take anything too seriously. That goes for everyone reading and commenting - don't get your panties in a bunch just because you think someone is being mean. There are much worse things in life to worry about than anonymous comments

I just have to say that if people want to rip into me personally, that's fine... knock ourselves out. Yet I find it quite unfair that any other ES individual get insulted for whatever reason someone may have.I can say that playing for ES has been nothin but a priveleage and a great oppurtunity to enjoy the tournament. I've had nothing but enjoyment playing alon side those guys, as even the guys that did't get to play were team players and always contributed in one way or another. That's more then I can say about alot of guys that I have played with.

bRADEN IT'S IRRELEVANT; the game is done and over with... your mids scored our mids set up the goals and caused the turn overs.

How many teams can say that their oldest player sprinted across the field to join in the team celebrations, not many.. and thats just one reason why playing for ES is special.

Norway just sucks. They won't ever be good against top teams as we can see. You guys suck face it. You got lucky a few years back, that's all it was. I'm glad you fools can't walk around with your medals telling people how good you are. As for medals, what did you win this year. HAHA NOTHING.

Yeah, winning the entire tournament sure was lucky. But you know, I'll take luck over not advancing past the round robin any day. I don't need a medal to tell you how much better Norway was than El Salvador, Jamaica, Afghanistan and Scotland this year. All I need are the Group Standings

I don't know if better is the right word. Jamaica didn't have its full roster all tournament. ES barely lost to Norway and then lost all it's star power for their final game. Es lost one game and tied with it's bench; I don't think Norway can brag about being better as they were outgunned by a Germany squad that was dominated by ES.You faired better then those teams you mentioned Braden; but by no means was your squad better.Funny how you mention you guys won the trophy one year, Ireland and ES have also won the event and do you hear them clinging onto former glory?!

This trash talk is good to a point...I have to admit that I developed some intense feelings of dislike towards a player from es because he sat in front of me telling his buddy how his team was the best in the tournament. then went on to brag about a medal he had won years back. As good as it is to see him out of the tourney it's too bad that the players I respect on es are out. We might not live to see the day where everyone on every team get's along but we should learn to respect each other. As for players posting comments anonymously...well they shouldn't be taken as representation of the team but to a point they are. Everyone posting should take into consideration their teams image and respectability (is that a word?) Good luck to Ireland and Laos. Nothing against you Irish guys, but an upset is in order...Can't have you guys winning it 4 out of 5 years..BW

Let's be clear; Norway beat El Salvador and advanced to the playoffs. ES didn't make it out of the group stage. The only conclusion to that is Norway is better than ES. You don't need to take a logic class to figure that one out - just need better than a Grade 3 education. Norway lost to Germany in a game that had no effect on whether or not Norway would advance. We beat ES in a game that meant everything for both teams. One team stepped up - the other went home (back to Saskatoon for the "star" players).

So with that thinking then Braden, ES is better than Germany, but Germany is better than Norway, but Norway is better than ES... gr.3 logic class makes so much sense.One on one talent level; ES is better than Norway any day. Make the game suited for more technical teams, rather then physical teams.... Norway would get blown away. 9v9 benefits a team like Norway more than a team like ES.

Disclaimer

The contents of this blog, Except For Comments, are the opinion of the Author and the Author alone. Comments do not represent the views of World Class Players Sport Inc., or the WCP Cup, or their associated businesses, etc. The Author is Braden Husdal and he can be reached at bradenac5@hotmail.com. If you want to complain or if you've got a sweet column idea, email the author and he'll do what he can. DON'T contact the WCP Cup organizing committee because it won't know what you're talking about and will probably ignore you. And you dont' want to make the organizers mad, because then this could happen to you.